


Moving On

by Remsyk



Series: Birthday Gifts [1]
Category: Gundam Wing
Genre: Bullying, Harassment, Hopeful Ending, M/M, Oblivious Wufei, Preventers has gone to shit, Protective Duo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-14
Updated: 2018-01-14
Packaged: 2019-03-04 19:08:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,246
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13371252
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Remsyk/pseuds/Remsyk
Summary: Each of them put their heart and soul into the Preventers, but there comes a time when enough is enoughBirthday fic for sovaz





	Moving On

**Author's Note:**

  * For [sovaz](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sovaz/gifts).



> Happy Birthday sovaz!! Forgive me for being late; as I've said before, dates and I are not on good terms.
> 
> And special thanks to Kangofu_CB for being my beta buddy <3
> 
> WARNING: There is bullying and harassment in this! Most of it is implied, with the exception of select moments.

Wufei cleaned out his desk, tossing his belongings in a bankers box, too pissed off to care if he broke something in the process. He chucked a framed certificate, feeling a mixture of satisfaction and regret when the sound of tinkling glass filled the room.

It was going to be a bitch to clean out when he got home.

“So this is it.”

Wufei looked up with a start, leveling a glare at his intruder.

Duo stood in the doorway, arms crossed over his chest as he leaned against the frame.

“Don’t try to talk me out of it,” Wufei growled, throwing a paperweight into the box, causing the contents to rattle.

“I wouldn’t do that to you.”

Wufei looked up again, surprised by Duo’s soft tone, taking in the drawn lines of his face.

“You’re not going to stop me?”

Duo shrugged, a simple move that conveyed a deep exhaustion. “This shitshow is worse off for losing you, for losing all of you,” he scoffed bitterly. “But do I blame you? Not one bit. Everything that’s happened just pisses me off.”

Wufei inhaled deeply, bracing himself over his desk, arms locked as he stared at the surface framed between his hands.

“It shouldn’t have come to this,” he said, barely above a whisper. 

He hated this; every moment was agonizing, every award, gift, and knickknack a reminder of the pieces of himself he had put into this organization, and what he’d leave behind.

“You’re right, but it’s not your fault.”

Duo’s voice was closer, just across the desk, but he didn’t look up, couldn’t look up to their final member, the only one left. He couldn’t meet his eyes knowing he was leaving Duo behind.

“Wufei, it’s not,” Duo insisted, mistaking his silence. “They were the ones who pushed, who were fucking petty and stupid and all sorts of shit I can’t think of right now!”

Wufei felt a bit of his anger break, the edges cracking with Duo’s firm insistence and loyalty.

“I’m surprised you’re still here after your demonstration,” Wufei glanced up, a shadow of a smirk on his face.

Duo’s expression remained serious, knocking the breath from Wufei’s lungs.

“I meant every word.”

Wufei averted his gaze, once again filled with shame for abandoning his position. He stared down in the box, his eyes bouncing from one momento to the next, some intact, some broken, each a relic of his time with Preventers.

This day had been a long time coming, an inevitable end given the series of events leading up to this moment.

Heero had been the first to go.

To Wufei, it had been sudden, an unexpected blow that had shaken his foundation to the core. Heero had been just as dedicated, if not more so, to the Preventers as him, and yet, he had simply walked away.

Looking back, all the signs were there; he had just been too blind to see them, believed too much in an organization that had already begun to become a shell of itself.

It began, or at least the first time Wufei noticed, with a muffled conversation in the locker room. A fellow agent had muttered something to Heero. If Duo hadn’t jumped between them, Wufei was certain Heero would have killed him, or at the very least, permanently disabled him.

Instead, Duo had talked him down, and Heero had left, a walking, seething promise of pain for anyone who stood in his way. Duo had waited until he disappeared, then turned to the agent, crowding him back against the lockers.

To an outsider, it would have looked like an intimate moment between lovers, Duo’s eyes hooded as he leaned into the other man’s space, but Wufei had seen the gleam in his eyes, had known the words whispered in the agent’s ear carried the threat of death.

When Duo pulled away and left, the shaken agent had slid to the floor, his face as white as a sheet.

But the comments picked up, whispered behind closed doors and in large groups, eyes darting around like prairie dogs on alert. 

To his credit, Heero held his tongue, and more impressively, his temper, for far longer than Wufei would have tolerated, but the breaking point came after a particularly bad mission, the kind they carried like crosses as they trudged the halls to debriefing, their faces haunted and gaunt.

Wufei hadn’t seen the agent; he only saw him after the fact, had hardly recognized him for the blood and swelling, but he had heard the comment, loud and clear.

“Add another dead girl to your tally, Yuy?”

Heero had froze, a living statue locked in midstep.

Duo had snapped, going from haggard agent to Angel of Death before Wufei could even blink.

In the end, the agent had been forced to leave law enforcement due to medical reasons, after being dishonorably discharged from Preventers.

Duo had been suspended.

Heero had simply left.

Wufei remembered catching a glimpse of Heero that day; he had been running late, and pulled into the parking garage just as Heero was getting in his car.

Duo had been there; Wufei was sure he had snuck in. Heero gestured to him, and Duo had shaken his head, his expression solemn, sad, something Wufei had never seen before. Heero had nodded, said something, then left, leaving Duo alone in the crowded lot.

Looking back, Wufei couldn’t believe he had been so blind. 

It had been the start of a very slippery slope.

The next to go was Trowa, and arguably Quatre, as the two were joined at the hip. 

Even now, Wufei couldn’t say what had spurred such animosity towards them. A mix of anger after the war, resentment for their positions, and fear of who they were created a toxic atmosphere that was constantly fed by the vacuum chamber of resentful ex-military and a complacent commander.

The pilots had quality, but the agents had quantity, and they used their superior numbers to wear on them one by one. With Heero gone, they went after who they perceived to be an easy target.

Once again, Wufei felt a spike of shame for his dismissive ways. He had blamed Heero for allowing the rumors and whispers to get under his skin, for not ignoring those who were not worth his time. 

He had repeated his mistake with Trowa.

And once again, Duo ran interference, so much so that his presence was enough to silence a room.

Trowa endured it almost as long as Heero, but once again, Wufei witnessed a former Gundam Pilot’s breaking point.

Quatre had been visiting to conduct some business with Une, and was spending lunch with Trowa in the cafeteria.

“Here to get blown by your boyfriend, or would a clown like you even remember that?”

The comment had been asinine; it had barely made sense to Wufei, even when he sat down and dissected it word for word, but he remembered the way Trowa stiffened, the look on Quatre’s face when he realized who the comment was meant for, and the flurry of movement that followed.

Quatre had switched gears in a second, going from mild-mannered and friendly to cold and calculating. He had pulled Trowa from the booth, abandoning their half eaten food in favor of a hasty exit, snatching a confused Duo along the way, his tray still in hand.

The story went that Quatre had marched into Une’s office unannounced, the other two trailing behind him, and had a long meeting with her behind closed doors, then left, taking Trowa with him.

The next day, Une made an emergency announcement, informing the agency that due to sudden budget cuts, they would be scaling back on personnel, starting with the agents who had records.

Wufei remembered the way his stomach had flipped as he stared at the back of Duo’s head in the auditorium, remembering Duo’s recent suspension, remembered how his chest had tightened when someone leaned into Duo’s space, whispering two, simple, ominous words.

“You’re next.”

Duo hadn’t even twitched.

Life went on, missions came and went, and he and Duo grew closer and closer, first as partners, then as friends. 

He barely noticed the whispers at first. The comments were immature and childish, digs at his fighting ability, his personal life, both social and sexual, slurs about his heritage, anything and everything they could think of.

Wufei ignored it all, but he was beginning to understand the extent of the badgering, the constant stream of hostility. Every interaction left him on edge, left him tense and tired.

It was then he had realized just how much Duo had shielded them from the constant badgering, realized how much worse it could be without his efforts. 

He wouldn’t have lasted a fraction of the time.

He hadn’t lasted much longer.

In hindsight, it seemed as though the harrassors always chose the time after a difficult mission to make the most biting comments, to stab deep into open wounds and rattle brittle self control. They had chosen just such time, at a point when Duo wasn’t around to shield him.

“Since you blew up your breeding pool, guess you’ve settled on banging a rat.”

Wufei had froze, just like Heero and Trowa before him, stunned by the vicious comment, the venom and hate infused in each word. 

What had he done to deserve such treatment?

Duo had appeared out of nowhere; no doubt his protective senses were tingling, but instead of raining righteous fury on the offender, he had grabbed Wufei and marched them both into Une’s office.

The fact that she hadn’t seemed surprised by their entrance only seemed to fuel Duo’s rage, and the tirade that followed would surely go down in history as the most scathing Duo would ever give.

He raged about the toxic environment, of Une’s complacency, of the degradation of what Preventers once was, and the cesspool it had become.

Wufei remained silent through it all, just as Une sat silently behind her desk, accepting every word thrown her way with resignation. When he finally stopped, she had only looked him in the eye and asked,

“What would you have me do?”

Wufei was familiar with the phrase “seeing red”, but in that moment, he truly understood what it meant. He didn’t remember leaving, or if he used the stairs or elevator, or even the trek to his office. 

He had only one thought in mind: Get out. 

He was done, finished,  _ fuck _ them all. He wasn’t going to put up with their mistreatment or harassment any longer. He was worth more than that, deserved more than the disparaging comments and snide remarks.

He once believed in the Preventers and what they stood for.

Not anymore.

Wufei looked up at the sudden noise, eyes widening in surprise. Duo had another box on the chair, and was pulling items from Wufei’s, gently cleaning the broken glass from each one.

He watched him work, guilt closing his throat. Finally, he swallowed past the crushing grip.

“What will you do?”

Duo shrugged, humming noncommittally. He continued sorting Wufei’s things, carefully cleaning off each piece before packing them in their new box.

“I’m sorry-”

“You have nothing to apologize for,” Duo interrupted without looking up.

Wufei watched him work, his guilt compounding with every movement, every momento a memory of all he had accomplished. They did not speak until Duo tucked the final item away. He then moved the box of glass shards onto Wufei’s desk, snatching the discarded badge and gun in the process. Before Wufei could ask, Duo dropped both items in the box, then gave it a solid shake for good measure.

“Ready?” Duo remained serious, but his eyes held a glimmer of amusement and no small amount of satisfaction.

Wufei lowered his eyes in shame. “Forgive me for leaving you here. We’ve all left, and you deserve better.” He squeezed his eyes shut, waiting for judgement-

-Then gasped when calloused fingers gently lifted his chin, forcing him to meet brilliant violet-blue eyes.

“Did you really think I’d stay in this hellhole without you?” 

Wufei stared at him, his mind struggling to reconcile Duo’s words against his expectations.

Duo chuckled, a warm sound that sent shivers down his spine.

“I only stayed here for you.”

Suddenly, it all made sense. Declining Heero’s offer, Quatre’s invitation, Trowa’s inquiry.

Wufei was blind, but even he hadn’t missed the harassment that Duo endured on a daily basis. When Wufei had asked, he had only shrugged.

“What can they say that I haven’t already heard?”

Now, he looked at Duo in a different light.

He had stayed for him.

“Why?” He whispered, brows drawn in a frown.

Duo snorted softly. “If you haven’t figured it out yet, you just might be hopeless.”

Wufei inhaled sharply, his eyes widening in shock. He didn’t really mean that, did he?

Duo stepped back, his hand trailing along his chin before falling away. Wufei’s skin tingled where they had touched, and he resisted the urge to retrace the trail.

Duo offered his hand, a smile on his face. “Come on. I know three guys who want to change the world, and have enough skills, brains, and funding to do it. And they just so happen to have a couple job openings.”

Wufei grinned, feeling lighter than he had in months, years maybe, and accepted the offered hand with a firm grip, threading his fingers through Duo’s.

“Count me in.”


End file.
